Soft tissue mobilization is more effective than self-stretching in the acute reduction of common wrist extensor tendon stiffness in recreational tennis players.
Background: Common wrist extensor tendon (CET) stiffness is an understudied risk factor for lateral elbow tendinopathy. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate and short-term effects of soft tissue mobilization (STM) versus self-stretching on CET stiffness in a group of r...
| Publicado en: | Physiotherapy Theory & Practice Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 504 - 513 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | diagnostic images pictorial research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Apr2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192729127&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192729127 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09593985 BCJ jtl: Physiotherapy Theory & Practice issn: 09593985 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 42 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 192729127 189250380 192729127 192729127 10.1080/09593985.2025.2587139 192729127 ppf: 504 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Soft tissue mobilization is more effective than self-stretching in the acute reduction of common wrist extensor tendon stiffness in recreational tennis players. aug: au: Day, Joseph Merriman, Harold affil: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA sug: subj: Tennis Athletes Wrist Joint Physiology Tendons Physiopathology Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization Stretching Treatment Outcomes Evaluation Human Female Male Middle Age Aged Randomized Controlled Trials Random Assignment Control Group Abduction Flexion Forearm Physiology Biomechanics T-Tests Confidence Intervals Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance Comparative Studies Post Hoc Analysis Power Analysis Data Analysis Software Descriptive Statistics Middle Aged: 45-64 years Aged: 65+ years Female Male ab: Background: Common wrist extensor tendon (CET) stiffness is an understudied risk factor for lateral elbow tendinopathy. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate and short-term effects of soft tissue mobilization (STM) versus self-stretching on CET stiffness in a group of recreational tennis players. Methods: Stiffness, measured with the shear wave modulus in kilopascals (kPa), was obtained at rest on the dominant CET using 2D SWE ultrasound imaging (GE Logiq S8, 9 L, linear transducer). Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group (STM or self-stretching). Stiffness measures were taken immediately post-treatment and 15-minutes post-treatment. Within examiner intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC (3, 1) were calculated. A repeated measures ANOVA using one between variable group (STM or stretching) and one within variable group (initial, post-treatment, and 15 minutes post-treatment) was used. Results: Thirty-two participants (mean age = 58.2 ± 12.1 yr) were randomized into the STM (n = 16) or stretching group (n = 16). There were no group differences in body mass index, age, frequency of play, or activity levels (p >.10). The within day intra-rater reliability was excellent (ICC =.98 (95% CI =.95–.99). There was a significant interaction between group and time (p =.015). There was a significant decline in CET stiffness in the STM group compared to the stretching group between pre-treatment and post-treatment and between pre-treatment and 15 minutes post-treatment ((p ≤.013), mean change > −39.64, Cohen's d >.55). Conclusion: The reduction in stiffness values cannot be solely attributed to our STM intervention secondary to the lack of a control group. Nevertheless, clinicians may consider STM techniques over self-stretching for the purpose of mitigating CET stiffness in healthy middle-aged recreational tennis players. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: diagnostic images pictorial research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article ougenre: Unknown language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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